Sunday, June 28, 2009

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you realize by now I have a thing for birds, eggs, and bird nests! The birds also seem to know this and flock to my house to nest in my front door wreath, potting shed, hanging ferns, and now my grill! Actually it's the can to catch the drips hanging under the grill. Bush's Baked Beans.All five of the eggs hatched, which in my experience is unusual, and all five of the babies survived to leave the nest! How they all fit in the can with Mom I'll never understand!

Summer is my favorite season of the year. I love hot weather (just not the sticky humidity) and swimming in the pool and the lake. I grew up near the beach and went there a lot as a teen, but I don't prefer swimming in the ocean. I worry too much about jellyfish and sharks. Every time a piece of seaweed wraps itself around my leg I fight back panic! Besides, the ocean water feels so sticky when it dries on your skin. Yuck yuck!

Monday, June 8, 2009

I've got some very exciting news to share! I was commissioned to do a backstage guest book for Grammy-award winning rock band The Fray for their summer tour. So if you get the privilege of going backstage, look for my guest book!

I did window cut outs on the front and back covers,
and embellished the front cover with metal brads.

The back cover with the band members in another cut out window.

I have to give credit to my husband for helping me in the brainstorming phase. I had some ideas sketched out and he was my sounding board, helping me to tweak them.

Here is my sketchbook with all my notes from my brainstorming session.

You've heard the old saying, measure twice and cut once? Well, I think I measured 40 times to be sure my one shot at cutting was going to be right. It was quite a challenge to get the photo for the window centered and glued down before the window was permanently placed in position. Everything had to line up exactly right. Arrgh! The stress!!

At each stage of the process, I was sure I was going to screw something up. Fortunately all my planning and measuring paid off. I got it right on the first shot! Whew!

Here are the finished covers, ready for my stitching holes to be punched, which was another heart-pounding moment! What if I punch the holes in the wrong place? What if my punch acts up and messes up the covers?

I go through this nerve wracking self-talk with every custom order I do, but this one was just a slightly bigger deal than usual. It was such a relief when it was all finished!